5 Things The Alchemist Taught Me About Life

 

Author: Paulo Coelho

Format: Audiobook

Narrator: Jeremy Irons

Listening Length: 4 hours

Publisher: HarperAudio

Amazon // Goodreads

 

Book Synopsis:

Paulo Coelho’s enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasure found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.

My Thoughts:

The Alchemist is more than just a book… it is a lesson in life.  It is beautiful and profound.  I’ve never read anything quite like it.  I wouldn’t even know where to start if I would attempt to review this book…  No words that I could string together would do this book the justice it deserves.

Instead of a conventional review, I decided to share 5 things I learned from The Alchemist….

» Pay attention to omens

The Universe wants you to succeed and will send omens to guide you to your goals.  Listen to them.

» Learn from experience

Learn from everything.  Learn from good experiences, but more importantly, learn from the bad experiences.

» Do not let fear hinder you

Fear only hinders you from realizing your dreams.  You will never reach your goals if you are too afraid to shoot for them.

» Follow your heart

Go with your heart.  You can always listen to the advice of others, but in the end, only you can decide what is best for you.

» Fulfill your personal legend

 It’s easy to settle into a life that is easy, but unless you realize your personal legend, you will never truly be happy.

These lessons are oversimplified, but each is expanded upon in this book.  When I decided to read this book, I had no idea it would be so deep and enlightening.  This is the story of a boy who sets out to realize his own personal legend and along the way learns the secrets of life.  The writing is exquisite and poetic.  The story is fast paced and thought-provoking.  If you are looking for a book with more DEPTH, go pick up a copy of this book.

I would like to mention that I listened to The Alchemist via audiobook and WOW!!! Audiobook is the way to go with this one.  It is narrated by Jeremy Irons, who you may know as the voice of “Scar” in Disney’s The Lion King.  His voice is pure perfection.

 

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Noteworthy Quotes:

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

“The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”

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My Rating: All the stars!!

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About the Author:

The Brazilian author PAULO COELHO is considered one of the most influential authors of our times. His books have sold more than 165 million copies worldwide, have been released in 170 countries and been translated into 80 languages.

Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, he soon discovered his vocation for writing. He worked as a director, theater actor, songwriter and journalist. His collaboration with Brazilian composer and singer Raúl Seixas gave some of the greatest classic rock songs in Brazil. In 1986, a special meeting led him to make the pilgrimage to Saint James Compostela (in Spain). The Road to Santiago was not only a common pilgrimage but a turning point in his existence. A year later, he wrote ‘The Pilgrimage’, an autobiographical novel that is considered the beginning of his career.

In the following year, COELHO published ‘The Alchemist’. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time.

He has received numerous prestigious international awards. He is member of the Academy of Letters of Brazil since 2002 and Messenger of Peace by the United Nations since 2007. In 2009 he received the Guinness World Record for the most translated author for the same book (The Alchemist).

The man behind the author likes to write and practices Kyudo – a meditative archery. He loves reading, walking, football and computers. In that sense, he has always maintained a close contact with his readers but now, and thanks to the new media, he has established an incredible feedback with them. Paulo was the second most influential celebrity on Twitter in 2010 according to Forbes and he is the writer with the highest number of followers in the social media.

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